


A life cut short

by Lily98tn



Category: Coco (2017)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-23 10:53:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13785969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily98tn/pseuds/Lily98tn
Summary: Miguel's life had returned to normal after his visit to the dead, until he is murdered. Then his family, both living and dead, are forced to deal with the only child murder in the family history.





	1. The death

Miguel had just finished singing in the plaza and was walking back home when it happened. He had promised to be home before dark, but right now it was looking like he was going to break his promise as he could see the sun setting behind the trees. The twelve year old cringed at the thought of his abuelita reprimanding him for his tardiness and began to walk faster, not noticing he was being followed. Right before he turned the corner that would eventually take him home, he felt himself being pulled into a dark alleyway.

His heart raced and he looked around desperately as his eyes tried to adjust to the darkness. Just as his vision was clearing, a hand was held forcefully over his mouth and a knife to jus throat. Miguel noticed that the figure before him was abnormally tall and smelled strongly of whiskey. As Miguel was slammed forcefully against a wall, he also noticed the man's long beard. He thought it was strange the facts his mind took in when he was in obvious danger, but he didn't have time to think about that long.

The man began talking in slurred words that Miguel couldn't understand, and he seemed to get angrier at the fact that Miguel wasn't responding. Obviously the fact that someone can't talk when their mouth is covered escaped the drunkards mind. The knife pressed harder against Miguel's tanned skin; hard enough to draw blood but not cut too deep. The sting caused Miguel to wince, and the man threw Miguel against the wall at his reaction. The pain that shot through Miguel's entire body caused a strangled cry to escape his throat. The man kneed him in the stomache and told him to be quiet. Miguel was openly crying now as his mind finally registered his dire situation. Dire being the key word. He was going to die at the hands of a crazy person. He would never see his sister grow up, never graduate high school, never get a real job, never get married, never even have a first crush!

Miguel began struggling against the hold, and bit down hard against the man's hand. The shock of the sudden fight caused the man to release Miguel's mouth just long enough for Miguel to scream for help one time. This one time caught the attention of a near by store owner, who gazed upon the situation with shock and fear as the man stabbed Miguel violently in the stomach, multiple times, before running away. As Miguel's vision blurred, he could hear the shocked voices of the shopkeeper and his wife screaming for him.

"Querido Dios! It's the Rivera Boy! Go get his familia, call a doctor!"

Miguel felt pressure being applied to his wounds but knew that it was pointless. He could feel death gripping him, he could feel himself slipping away. Suddenly he tasted blood in his mouth, and realized he couldn't breathe. He felt his eyes begin to flutter shut.

"Stay with me, Niño, your family is coming and a doctor is on the way. You'll be alright, sí? Sí...you'll be okay.." the words began to fade but Miguel tried to hold onto them. He briefly thought he could hear his mother's crying before everything faded.


	2. The receptionist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miguel is welcomed to the land of the dead

Miguel didn't need to open his eyes to know that he was dead. The fact that he was no longer in excruciating pain from the multiple stab wounds was enough to prove that. He let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding and opened his eyes to what appeared to be an empty waiting room. A woman…a skeleton… dressed in early 20th century clothing was sitting at an enclosed desk typing on a modern computer. It was an odd scene, Miguel had to admit. Not the skeleton for he knew what the dead looked like, but the fact that someone who dressed so old-fashioned was using such a modern device. That is what Miguel found odd.

"Uh, Hola…" Miguel said with a shy shrug as the woman seemed to notice him for the first time. She looked at him only briefly before putting both hands over her mouth in shock.

"Oh, niño…how old are you?" The old woman's eyes were obviously holding back tears.

Something that Miguel had noticed on his first trip to the land of the dead was that children were very rare. In fact, Miguel could only remember seeing one or two children the entire day he was there. He knew this woman was probably having a completely normal reaction, but it made him uncomfortable.

"Eh...I'm twelve, Señora." Miguel noticed the woman holding back a gasp as he said his age but he chose to ignore it as he walked up to the woman's desk. "Can…can you tell me where I am?" He said looking down and shuffling his feet.

"Sí, Sí… this is the land of the dead. I am…very sorry to inform you that you have passed on, dear…" The woman looked at him with a sadness that was too pure, and as the recent events began to overwhelm him, Miguel began to cry. The woman stepped out from behind her desk and went over in front of Miguel, bending on her knees to be closer to his eye level. She held him gently by the shoulders and continued explaining some of the things Miguel already knew, but he didn't stop her. "It's okay niño, I'm the receptionist for family reunions. When people die, they get reunited with some of their dead ancestors, their familia. Do you know the name of any relatives that may be here?" The woman had stood and held her hand out for Miguel to take. Miguel didn't need his hand to be held, but the contact was comforting, so he took it without thinking twice and began following the woman into a room that was exactly like the one he had gone in the first time he was in this department. But that time he wasn't dead. This time seemed a lot scarier.

"Can you tell me your name?" The woman had sat behind another computer and was ready to get Miguel put into their system.

"Miguel Rivera". That comment made her pause and look at Miguel with more curiosity than she had before. Miguel figured his name must be well known considering what had happened a mere three months prior.

"It's not your first time in town, is it?" The woman asked in a not-so-inconspicuous manner. Miguel couldn't find words at this point so he simply shook his head to answer her question. She sighed but said nothing more. "Did you die of natural causes?" Miguel shook his head again. The woman visibly tensed. Not only were children rare in the land of the dead, but murdered children were probably even rarer. "Do you remember your death?" The woman was still looking at her screen.

"Sí". Miguel choked on the words and remembered hearing his mother in his last moment of life. The woman called for someone else to come into the room as Miguel began to sob almost uncontrollably. Miguel didn't even notice a new woman enter the room and sit next to him.

"Hola, Miguel. My name is Rosie. I'm a counselor for people who have gone through a traumatic death. Do you want us to call your familia to go through this with you, niño?" Miguel shook his head. He didn't want to face his family yet. If people who didn't even know him were reacting like this, then he could only imagine how Papa Héctor and the rest of his family would react.

It took hours for Miguel, Rosie, and the receptionist to finally get the full story because Miguel was having so much trouble getting through his tale. But after the story was over, Miguel heard the words from Rosie that he had been dreading.

"Miguel, we are going to call your familia now. I know you are scared, but they need to take you home."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bitter-sweet reunion

Miguel nodded but gave no further indication that he had heard Rosie. As the receptionist began to dial the deceased Rivera'a phone number, he began to feel a phantom heartbeat in his chest. His breathing became faster, too fast, he was practically hyperventilating. Tears were falling freely from his eyes and he suddenly got in the floor, curling up into the fetal position.  
Rosie, who had never had to help a person this young before, sat cross-legged on the floor next to him, scared to actually reach out and touch him knowing his death story, and tried to whisper reassurances. Miguel heard every word the receptionist said perfectly despite of, or maybe because of, his state of panic.  
"Hola, this is Pamila from the department of Family reunions am I currently speaking to a member of the Rivera family? Yes, there has been an arrival today so if you could send a family member by the department soon it would be greatly appreciated. Yes, señora. We are awaiting your arrival." As the receptionist hung up the phone, Miguel slipped back into unconsciousness.  
As he began to was up, he realized that he was no longer on the floor, but that he was on a an extremely soft bed. He opened his eyes and looked around the room, seeing pictures of his deceased family and immediately knew where he was. He was at his new home, the home of his dead familia. He got out of the bed and silently opened the surprisingly heavy bedroom door that led to a long hallway. The room he was in was the last room on the right, and he began taking in the appearance of the house as he walked forward. He stopped suddenly, however, when he heard muffled crying from behind a cracked door. He opened the door just a bit more to see Mama Imelda clutching what appeared to be a photo close to her chest, crying freely. Miguel had never seen Mama Imelda let down her emotions like this, or course she didn't know she was being watched so he didn't blame her, but he couldn't seem to look away as she began to mumble through her tears.  
"mi bebé ... ¿por qué mi bebé?" It took Miguel a minute to realize she was speaking of him. For some reason, it had never accured to him that his deceased relatives would care for him as much as he cared for them, but as the realization struck him, he decided to venture into the room.  
"M..Mama Imelda?"  
Imelda turned to look at her great-great-grandson and rushed forward to give him a hug. Both of them became so overwhelmed with emotion that they collapsed on the floor holding each other and stayed like that for hours, never saying a word.  
Héctor had just gotten home and could already tell something was wrong. The rest of the deceased Rivera family were all gathered in one room with Imelda blocking the doorway to the rest of the house. Yes, something was wrong.  
"Imelda, mi amore...what's going on?" Hector sat his guitar down on the floor and sat next to Coco, putting an arm around her shoulders as Imelda began speaking.  
"Now that everyone is here..." mid-scentence, Imelda did something no one had ever seen her do before. She began sobbing. Héctor stood up and embraced Imelda, trying to calm her down,at least enough to finish her sentence, and luckily it worked. "Now that everyone is here, I'm afraid I have some bad news." No one said anything as they waited for her to continue. "Our beloved Miguel has joined his deceased familia today, and this time he cannot go home." As she spoke she bagan crying freely again. It took over a minute before anyone comprehended what Imelda had said, but as realization dawned on everyone, Héctor was the first to speak.  
"What happened, Imelda? What happened to our boy..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Discussion

“I…I don’t know.” Imelda had made her way over to the couch because she felt too weak to stand. As she sat down, the twins went to either side of her, each taking one had to comfort their sister. Héctor knelt in front of her, and Coco, Julio, and Victoria stood behind him. Rosita and Victoria stood on either side of the twins, the entire family huddled together for comfort as they each came to terms with the youngest Rivera boy’s passing.  
Imelda took another deep breath and closed her eyes before continuing, thankful for her family’s presence. “He was unconscious when I got to the department of family reunions. Poor boy was so scared he had fainted from what the traumatic death counselor told me.” Imelda felt the entire family wince. Traumatic death counselors were only called in for the most severe cases. While no one knew exactly what had happened, everyone knew it must have been horrible. “And…” Imelda began to say something else before stopping and sobbing again.   
“What is it, mi amore?” Héctor reached up and cupped Imelda’s face in his hands. The two had begun talking only in hushed whispers, but it was so quiet in the household that no one was struggling to hear.  
“His clothes, Héctor…Miguel he…he was covered in blood…”   
Coco fell to the ground with a strangled cry as Julio kneeled by her in comfort. The normally stone-faced Victoria was having to bite down on her knuckle to keep from sobbing, and every other member of the family began sobbing openly, unashamed of the pain they felt for the young child.  
In the land of the living, it had been almost two days since Miguel was taken from the living Riveras, and things could not have gotten worse. Miguel’s mama refused to stop holding Baby Coco for even a moment, latching on to her living child with all of her being. There was not a moment that went by that someone wasn’t crying. Miguel’s guitar had been returned to the family, and was stained with blood. It currently sat unused in Miguel’s room, where his Abuelita spent most of her time. At any given moment she could be seen laying on Miguel’s bed, holding his clothing to her face and crying openly. Almost everyone in the town had come by to visit the family in those two days, but no words could bring any comfort to the Rivera family. It seemed as though all hope was lost.   
Back with the deceased Rivera family, one thought struck everyone’s mind at once, but it was Coco who stated it. “Mama…” She began, he voice strangled and filled with despair as she still lay on the ground in the arms of her husband. “Where is he? I… I want to see him. I need to see him.”   
“He’s in my room, Mija.” Imelda said. The family, minus Imelda and Victoria, seemed to move simultaneously towards Imelda’s room when Victoria called out for everyone to wait.  
“We don’t know what happened to him. We don’t know how he will react if we all go in there and corner him like this…” Victoria stated. She seemed to be the voice of reason while everyone was too shrouded in grief to think.  
“It’s Miguel, Victoria. It will be fine.” Héctor said, although his voice sounded unsure.  
“Will he? A traumatic death counselor was called in for him. He passed out because he was terrified of Imelda. His Mama Imelda scared him that badly. The poor boy is traumatized, he’s scared. He feels alone. We don’t know what happened to him and therefore we don’t know how to approach him. He is a child. A scared child who has lost everything he has ever known and been thrown into a world that he cannot understand by what appears to be the worst way imaginable. We need to let him come to us or we may overwhelm him.” Victoria’s words began to sink in and the family made their way back to the living area. All of them comforting each other and wondering what had brought their boy back to them so soon. Wondering how long it would take for Miguel to feel okay again…how long it would take for them to feel okay again…


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miguel struggles with his anxiety

Miguel sat, unmoving, staring at a blank wall as his mind tried to come to terms with everything that had happened. He wasn’t sure when he had begun crying again, but now he was painfully aware of the fact that he was. He shuddered as he thought of the physical pain of being murdered and realized that it paled in comparison to the emotional pain of being ripped away from his family so suddenly. Of course, he realized that he wasn’t completely taken away from his family, and that the house was currently full of relatives, but he feared the impact he would have on them.   
Mama Imelda had barely been able to walk out of the room when she heard Victoria return home. Miguel couldn’t bare the guilt of his living families emotional despair and his deceased family. He knew what he had to do. He had to leave…just long enough to collect his thoughts of course. The only problem? The exit to the house was currently being blocked by an ungodly amount of weeping Riveras. Miguel closed his eyes and remembered that they were weeping for him. He decided to face everyone only long enough to escape and walked down the hall and into the family living area as quietly as possible. Everyone was too busy making sure that Mama Imelda and Mama Coco were alright, and the only person to notice Miguel was Victoria, who simply nodded to acknowledge him and motioned to everyone else, as if to ask if he felt like interacting with anyone. Miguel shook his head and began to walk towards the door, ignoring the look of sympathy on Victoria’s face. He slipped out the door and realized that his family had an amazing view of the main city. He began to walk towards the lights, ignoring the other dead souls as they reacted to an obviously murdered child wondering around on his own.  
Back with the dead family, Victoria remained silent about Miguel’s exit. It wasn’t her place and she knew the boy would return.   
As everyone in the house began to calm down, Imelda decided to call the traumatic death counselor to see what information she could get about Miguel’s untimely death, however, that proved to be a dead end, (No pun intended), for the counselors are only allowed to discuss details of a person’s death with the person themselves. The call wasn’t a complete waste, though, as Imelda took the time to make sure that Miguel would get the counseling he needed by signing him up for one on one counseling with Rosie. Imelda knew the boy wasn’t going to get over whatever happened to him easily, but what she didn’t know…what no one knew…was that Miguel blamed himself.  
Miguel had a constant stream of thoughts running through his mind that kept adding to his guilt. What if he hadn’t been running late? What if he had taken the short cut home What if he had been paying more attention? What if he hadn’t fought back and just let the man do what he wanted? What if he had never gone to play music that day in the first place? What if he had stayed home with Abuelita? ….then his thoughts turned to his living family. His knees began to feel so weak that he had to sit down. An older man approached him with worry and sadness in his eyes.   
“Are you okay, niño?” The man asked, keeping his distance from the obviously upset child. Miguel nodded and hid his face for fear of being recognized, even though he was lacking some of his more identifying features from when he was here as the living boy. Like skin. Or a nose. But he still looked almost the same, and he didn’t want to be pitied any more than he had to be. The man nodded back in response and walked away, back to what Miguel could only assume was his family.  
After a few hours of sitting alone, Miguel finally decided to return to the deceased Rivera residence. The sun was beginning to set, and the idea of being out alone in the dark after what had recently happened would have made Miguel vomit had he still had a stomach, so he hurried home, this time being completely aware of his surroundings. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Even, though Miguel wasn’t even sure if someone could die in the land of the dead. He didn’t have time to wonder though, as when the house came into view, Miguel noticed his Papa Héctor sitting on the steps that led up to the front door, playing his guitar. Miguel, took a deep breath and started walking forward, Héctor almost immediately noticing him.  
Héctor stood up quickly, disregarding his guitar as he said Miguel’s name. Héctor didn’t mean to scare Miguel by talking too loudly, he was just surprised to see his great-great-grandson standing in front of him, blood covering his clothes and tears covering his face. But Miguel mistook this for anger and instinctively flinched away, looking down and breathing heavier than he was before.   
“I’m sorry, Papa Héctor…” Miguel said with the softest, saddest, most regretful voice that Héctor had ever heard. It brought tears to his eyes but he tried to hold them back as he slowly approached Miguel, who had once again began crying. It made Héctor realize just how badly he wanted to see Miguel smiling again.  
“No, Mijo…don’t apologize.” Héctor was on his knees in front of Miguel, now, and he reached out to wipe the tears off Miguel’s face. Miguel leaned into the touch, and it made Héctor’s figurative heart hurt. “Can I hug you, mijo?” Hector asked, looking into Miguel’s eyes. He had no idea what is boy had been through and he didn’t know how to comfort him, but when Miguel nodded, Héctor didn’t hesitate to grasp him tightly, protectively, and lovingly all while whispering reassurances to the young crying boy that he had done nothing wrong. Tears slowly began to make their way down Héctor’s face as well.   
After a few minutes of standing in front of the house, Héctor asked if Miguel wanted to go inside as the sun had already set completely. Miguel nodded, but pulled Héctor’s hand away from the door as he was about to push it open.   
“Papa Héctor…I can’t face everyone else yet. I don’t want them to be angry at me. I can’t…I can’t…” Miguel was on the verge of tears again, but Héctor was able to prevent the tears from actually falling.  
“No one is angry at you, Miguel. I promise you that. But if you don’t want to talk to anyone, I understand. Let me do the talking and just make sure you get in bed safe, sí?”  
Miguel nodded and felt relieved as Héctor pulled him close with an arm over his shoulder before the door was opened. The reaction was immediate. Family members began rushing towards him too fast, scaring Miguel and making him dizzy. It was all too much, and Miguel thought he could sense anger in the room despite what Héctor had said. Miguel was almost ready to collapse and probably would have if it weren’t for Héctor supporting most of his weight, and Héctor realized this.  
“Hey, hey, hey…dale espacio…he is not well right now.” Héctor spoke quietly, yet with enough authority that the other RIveras immediately backed off, just watching as Héctor led Miguel into the back bedroom.   
When Héctor returned, the Rivera family was staring at him, waiting for an explanation. Hector had a feeling he knew what Miguel was feeling, and he didn’t want to be the one to tell the rest of his family to, well…for lack of a better phrase, leave Miguel alone. But it looked like it was going to have to be him.


End file.
